Downtown Parking Study

Project Background/Summary

Early in 2009, the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce initiated the Strategic Business Alliance, a group of community stakeholders representing the city, school district, business owners, and developers. The Alliance conducted a roundtable discussion to explore economic development needs and aspirations for Lake Oswego. Among the issues identified during the discussion, and later in the development of the April 2010 Economic Development Strategy, were downtown parking supply and requirements. Developers cited city parking requirements as an impediment to redevelopment in the downtown, particularly for redevelopment of smaller parcels. Downtown retail and restaurant owners raised concerns about the availability of parking for customers.

Project Description

Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency (LORA) contracted with Rick Williams Consulting (RWC) to conduct the 2010 Parking Resource Assessment – Downtown Parking Study. It concluded that while there is an adequate on and off-street parking supply to meet current demand, the existing downtown parking supply could be better managed to maximize its use and encourage downtown redevelopment, and parking requirements could be lowered and simplified. Staff is working with stakeholders to determine a parking management strategy.

Eight public meetings have been held since 2011, including: two with the LORA Board, three public information meetings, and three with the Planning Commission. In addition, periodic updates have been provided to the Chamber’s Downtown Business Committee

Updates

The Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency (LORA) contracted with Rick Williams Consulting (RWC) to conduct the 2010 Parking Resource Assessment – Downtown Parking Study. It concluded that while there is adequate on and off-street parking supply to meet current demand, the existing downtown parking supply could be better managed to maximize its use and encourage downtown redevelopment, and parking requirements could be lowered and simplified.

In March 2011, the LORA Board reviewed and accepted the Study and directed staff to return with an implementation plan. In September, the LORA Board accepted the three phase implementation plan with instruction to move forward.

On April 23, 2012, the Planning Commission recommended City Council approval of the code amendments, subject to a list of considerations. Given input from a stakeholder task force subsequent to the Planning Commission recommendation, in May 2013, the City Council voted to withdraw the Council-initiated code amendments.